Industrial Cathedral

Industrial Cathedral
"Industrial Cathedral" charcoal on paper 131 x 131 cm Jane Bennett. Finalist in 1998 Dobell Drawing Prize Art Gallery of NSW Finalist 1998 Blake Prize Winner 1998 Hunter's Hill Open Art Prize

About Me

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Sydney, NSW, Australia
I'm an Industrial Heritage Artist who paints "en plein air".If it's damaged, derelict, doomed and about to disappear, I'll be there to paint it.
Showing posts with label Cockatoo Island. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cockatoo Island. Show all posts

Sunday 2 August 2020

Painting the industrial past on Cockatoo Island - Before and After

Cockatoo Island, the largest island in Sydney Harbour, is located at the intersection of the Parramatta and Lane Cove rivers. It is the last vestige of the era of the Industrial Revolution remaining in Sydney.
Plein air industrial painting of cranes at Cockatoo Island by industrial artist Jane Bennett
CK8B & CK52 Crane & slipway from the Officers headquarters
1989 & 2007 oil on canvas 61 x 46cm
Between 1839 -1869 Cockatoo Island was a prison colony.
The inmates not only excavated the 2 tunnels and 2 graving docks that nearly bisect the island, but to add insult to injury they even had to build their own gaol using the excavated sandstone of the island! The only successful escapee was bushranger Captain Thunderbolt (his more prosaic real name was Fred Ward), who escaped on 19th September 1863.
After its stint as Sydney's 'Alcatraz' the island was used as a graving dock,  reformatory and industrial schools, and a major shipbuilding site.
In the early twentieth century Cockatoo Island became one of Australia’s most important industrial sites where ships were built, repaired and modified. Thousands were trained and employed there. I still meet people who did their apprenticeship as a boilermaker or fitter and turner on Cockatoo Island.
As the progressive removal of tariffs, regressive government policies, the high dollar and the pressures of globalization helped kill off Australian manufacturing, the focus of employment has turned increasingly to tourism, entertainment and service industries.
Most of Sydney’s former sites of industrial and maritime activity have now been gobbled up by developers for monolithic dormitories of beige apartment blocks. After many political battles, some remaining industrial structures of Cockatoo Island have been retained, against all odds. Although some large workshops, slipways, wharves, residences and other buildings remain, such as the Turbine Shop and the Mould Loft, many major buildings were demolished after Cockatoo Island closed as a dockyard in 1991.
Now it's a UNESCO world heritage site and its industrial ambience has been exploited for many cultural events. It was the site for the filming of X Men Origins -Wolverine and several 'reality' programs. Since 2008 it has been the flagship venue of Sydney’s Biennale. However, its original function as part of Sydney’s rapidly disappearing Working Harbour, has gone forever.
When I was 'Artist in Residence' there in the mid-late 1980s and then again in the early 2000s, I was the only artist on the island.
For the last decade, the public has been allowed to visit the island, but when I painted the 2nd canvas in 2007, it was still off limits. The Sydney Harbour Federation Trust was frantically fixing up the infrastructure to be able to open it to tourists. I would travel by barge at the crack of dawn from Mort's Dock with the other workmen.
Plein air industrial painting of cranes at Cockatoo Island by industrial artist Jane Bennett
CK8B 2 Cranes on the North-West Slipway
1989 oil on canvas 61 x 46cm
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I started painting on Cockatoo Island in the mid 1980s when it was still operational and submarines were still being refitted there.
I'd have to sign the Official Secrets Act and promise faithfully not to paint any submarines or sell any of my paintings to the Russians. I'd leave my easel, paints and table in the office of the Ship Painters and Dockers building between Fitzroy and Sutherland docks.
There was a sign "Pro Painter Foreman" on the door, which always made me laugh. I was so naive that I didn't know anything about the reputation of this notorious union!
These two canvases were painted at the same location,the north - western slipway, at the same time of day, at the same time of year and on the same format canvas - but 18 years apart.
Plein air industrial painting of cranes at Cockatoo Island by industrial artist Jane Bennett
CK52 Crane & slipway from the Officers headquarters
2007 oil on canvas 61 x 46cm
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The most obvious difference between the 1989 and 2007 paintings is the omission of the pale green crane, a casualty of a storm not long after the 1989 canvas was painted.
This was the Butters crane, purchased from the Whyalla Shipyards in 1979, when Cockatoo Island was trying to adopt more innovative strategies,for the construction of HMAS Success in 1983-4. The rather forlorn looking crane left on its own in the 2007 painting, was the ex- West Wall crane, also a comparatively recent addition to the island, as it was relocated from Garden Island in the 1970s.
This partial modernization was a false dawn, however, as HMAS Success would be last ever ship built and launched at Cockatoo Island. Less than 8 years later, the island was closed.     

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Article written by Steve Meacham in the Sydney Morning Herald

Thursday 18 June 2020

No 'glamping' on Cockatoo Island

This is a painting of the Utility crane in front of Sutherland Dock, Cockatoo Island.
Plein air painting of industrial heritage, crane at Sutherland Dock Cockatoo Island painted by industrial artist Jane Bennett
CK36'Cockatoo Island- Crane, Sutherland Dock and the escarpment'
2006 oil on canvas 75 x 100cm
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For the last decade, the public has been allowed to visit the island, but when I painted this in 2006, it was still off limits.
The Sydney Harbour Federation Trust was frantically fixing up the infrastructure to be able to open it to tourists. I would travel by barge at the crack of dawn from Mort's Dock with the other workmen.
Plein air painting of industrial heritage, crane at Sutherland Dock Cockatoo Island painted by industrial artist Jane Bennett
CK36'Cockatoo Island- Crane, Sutherland Dock and the escarpment'
2006 oil on canvas 75x100cm
Enquiries

In the afternoon, I had to make sure I didn't miss the last barge back to the mainland, or I'd have to spend the night there.
Now there is 'glamping', but back then there were no facilities at all! No tents, no shelter - I occasionally spent the odd night in a tunnel, which was creepy. There wasn't even drinkable water & we all got terribly sick until we learnt to bring our own water!
Plein air painting of industrial heritage, crane at Sutherland Dock Cockatoo Island painted by industrial artist Jane Bennett
CK36'Cockatoo Island- Crane, Sutherland Dock and the escarpment'
2006 oil on canvas 75 x 100cm
Enquiries

20 years before, I had painted on the island, near the end of its life as a working shipyard.

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Sunday 27 March 2011

A good Korea move

Two Exhibitions in Seoul, Korea
"Together in Harmony for 50 Years"

I have been invited to exhibit paintings in 2 exhibitions in Seoul, Korea as part of the celebration event for '50 years of Friendship Between Australia and Korea'.The exhibition "Together in Harmony for 50 years" at the Noori and Arum gallery in the Korea Foundation Culture Centre in Seoul, Korea opens 4 -7pm Friday 29th April 2011. 


The sequel exhibition in the "Bom" gallery in Chongdamdong, Seoul's most prominent art precinct, opens on the 3rd May 2011.

This exhibition is also organized by the Australian Embassy in Korea and also invited by "Bom" Gallery themselves.


106 paintings have been selected for the exhibition in the Korea Foundation Culture Centre,
which is owned by  Samsung, and run by the Korea Foundation Australia.
This is the painting I will be displaying in this exhibition.
"Fitzroy Dock, early morning, Cockatoo Island" 2007 oil on canvas 75x100cm.

Bom is a commercial gallery with a smaller exhibiting area, so only 30 paintings have been selected to be displayed.
This is the painting I will be displaying in Bom.

 "Sunrise, Fitzroy Dock ,  Cockatoo Island "2007 oil on canvas 75x100cm


Hoim Lee ,President of KWASS, the Korean Women's Art Society in Sydney has worked tirelessly to organise and promote these exhibitions.


KWASS is a non-profit organization established in 2006, to promote activities among Korean-Australian female artists who are based in Sydney.
The artworks have been selected from both KWASS exhibiting members (Korean Australians) and non-members (of non-Korean ethnic background).

KWASS held a very successful exhibition in Seoul in November 2009, with the support of the Australia-Korea Foundation, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. His Excellency, the Ambassador Sam Gerovich, was so impressed with this exhibition that he invited KWASS to hold a second exhibition in 2011, as part of the 2011 Year of Friendship Between Australia and Korea, celebrating the 50th Anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

The event has been financially supported by the Australian Embassy in Seoul.

I haven't been overseas since my Marten Bequest Travelling  Art Scholarship, which was 1996 -8! I let my passport lapse as I've always been too busy to travel. Often my paintings would go to interstate or international exhibitions , but I was working too hard to join them. This time I thought, it looks exciting and I need a break, so why not? So I am off to Korea for a week or so.

It won't be all sight-seeing  and attending gallery openings. I've been asked to give a seminar on Australian art for a couple of hours at the Korea Foundation Culture Centre. 
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